Police offer suggestions to help keep burglars at bay

Published: Thursday, January 21, 2010

ADAM D. YOUNG

Lubbock police have offered homeowners tips to prevent their dwellings from being burglarized and to increase their odds of recovering stolen items.

Police held a news conference about robbery prevention Wednesday - two days after a Lubbock man shot a man who was attempting to kick in the door of his Central Lubbock home. Police were investigating whether two other burglaries in the neighborhood around the 3000 block of 45th Street were connected.

Lubbock police Lt. Neal Barron said Wednesday he was not aware of any updates in the investigations of at least 24 burglaries in the neighborhood since Jan. 1.

Barron did offer residents suggestions about how they can prevent being victims of a burglary:

Interior

To help investigators track down and identify stolen items, police recommend people take photos of, or write down serial numbers from, high-dollar items such as flat-screen TVs.

Barron said flat-screen TVs have been popular targets of burglars in recent years because they're lighter than older TV models.

"They're very expensive, and they're more portable than in the past," he said.

Barron said people also should write or engrave their driver's license numbers in a discreet area on high-dollar items.

Homeowners with alarm systems should activate the systems when they're away, he said.

Exterior

Police recommend that people lock doors and windows when they leave to help prevent intruders from getting easy access, Barron said. Other lockable structures such as gates also should be secured, he said.

"I throw the gate in there because a lot of burglars will knock on the front door and if they don't get an answer they'll go around to the back," he said.

Barron said people should report to police any suspicious or unusual activity they see in their neighborhoods. He said people should write down license-plate numbers of suspicious vehicles so police can use them in investigating future robberies.

Police also recommend homeowners not leave mail in their mailboxes or newspapers on their lawns, as their presence can indicate a house is unoccupied.